UofL ’ s Mallory Comerford ( right ) with Katie Ledecky . Photo by Michael Hickey , UofL sports Information
Louisville coach Arthur Albiero was among those who believed Comerford could win .
“ We never put a limit on what Mallory can do ,” Albiero said . “ Yes , I believed Mallory Comerford could swim a 1:40.3 200-free because I know all the hard work she has put in to get here . There was nothing surprising about her race to be honest with you .”
What made Comerford ’ s race so incredible was her final lap . She was down nearly a halfsecond to Manuel and was behind by more than a tenth to Ledecky before her comeback .
“ I ’ m watching the coaches get her splits and hearing , ‘ She ’ s going faster than she ever has before ,’ and it ’ s setting in ,” UofL teammate and Olympic gold medalist Kelsi Worrell said . “ I can ’ t control myself . I ’ m shaking and crying and trying not to pee myself . Just so incredible .”
It was Comerford ’ s personal best by 1.34 seconds , a massive amount of time for an elite level swimmer in a middle-distance event . Albiero noted that dropping new personal bests is nothing new for Comerford .
Comerford has dropped more than seven seconds from her 200-free and more than four seconds from her 100 . She was a high-school phenom in Kalamazoo , Mich ., but has become a superstar at Louisville .
“ Since I got to college , I have learned so much ,” Comerford said . “ I got so much stronger . I am still continuing to learn so much . The past two years have been a learning process . Plus , my teammates have pushed me to my limits and our coaches push us so hard . We also have so many incredible resources for us to get better .”
Part of that is the training of Albiero and assistant coach Stephanie Juncker .
“ I think Arthur has created the atmosphere of leaders wanting to get better every day , wanting to work hard ,” Comerford said . “ It gets hard , but the atmosphere we created is that everyone is going to work hard and everyone wants to get better .”
On a recent Thursday morning , the Louisville swimmers warmed-up by swimming nearly two miles .
And then they started into their actual workouts .
The sprinters tacked on another four miles worth of grueling sets . The distance swimmers